June 2012 Archives

In a 5-4 decision, the United States Supreme Court has upheld most parts of the Affordable Care Act, including the Act's so-called "individual mandate" that imposes a penalty on individuals who do not purchase a minimum level of health insurance. The Court found that the individual mandate was a valid exercise of Congress' power to "lay and collect Taxes" established by Article 1, section 8 of the US Constitution.

A federal judge in California has granted Apple's motion for a preliminary injunction to block sales of Samsung's Galaxy Tab based on Apple's claim that the Tab infringes its patents related to the iPad. The judge granted the injunction after ruling that Apple stood a strong chance of winning the case on the merits based on the substantial similarity between the two devices.

The Black Keys, an enormously successful blues-rock duo, has sued the Home Deport and Pizza Hut for allegedly using songs off the group's most recent album in advertisements without the group's permission.

When a Facebook user "likes" a product or company, or posts something related to a product or company, Facebook will sometimes present those likes or posts to other users in that person's network as a paid promotion for the product or company. A lawsuit challenged this practice, claiming that it violated users' right of publicity. Facebook recently settled the lawsuit, agreeing to pay millions of dollars to various charities and provide notifications to users when their posts might be used as sponsored stories. Facebook also agreed to create a tool to allow users to opt-out of of sponsored stories altogether.

A LinkedIn user has filed a class action lawsuit against the popular business networking website related to the security breach that resulted in the publication of 6 million LinkedIn users' passwords. The suit claims that the company failed to adequately protect its users' personally identifiable information.

The Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit challenging Florida's program to systematically remove names from the list of registered voters that the state believes are ineligible to vote because of lack of citizenship. The DOJ claims that the National Voter Registration Act prohibits Florida's program, or any program like it, within 90 days of an election for a federal office. The next such election in Florida will occur on August 14, 2012.

Plaintiffs in the litigation over the long-term effects of concussions on players in the National Football League have filed a master complaint in the consolidated lawsuit against the NFL and sports equipment manufacturers. The complaint brings together more than 80 lawsuits filed by NFL players over their allegations that the NFL knew the dangers of repeated head injuries, concealed that information from the players, and failed to adequately protect players from head injuries while playing football.

A group of New Jersey Muslims has filed a lawsuit against the New York City Police Department over the NYPD's surveillance program that collected information on Muslim communities after 9/11. The lawsuit alleges that the program discriminated against the communities on the basis of race, religion, and national origin.

In 2005 and 2010, the Authors Guild and the American Society of Media Photographers brought lawsuits against Google over the search giant's Google Books, which the plaintiffs alleged was a massive scheme to violate their copyrights. Google recently sought to dismiss the claims, but the judge in the case ruled that, not only did the plaintiffs have standing to bring the lawsuit, they also qualified for class action status.